The effect of the challenge is that May is free from further challenge from within her party for one year. That, however, is probably irrelevant. The fact is that her future is undeniably and inextricably bound to her success or failure in delivering a form of withdrawal from the EU that pleases parliament and the country, or at least most of them.

That, all signs suggest, is highly unlikely. While the media has focussed on a small number of issues, such as the border between Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland, May has spent untold hours in the air, rushing around trying to get deals done until she announced that she had got the best deal for Britain. She probably meant that she had the best deal she could get. But we, the people, don't know. We have not been given details. Indeed, in a remarkable failure of democracy, not only has material not been made available to the citizenry, but some has been actively denied to Parliament. There is considerable suspicion that the "deal" does not deliver an effective withdrawal at all but, rather, leaves the UK exposed to the EU with no representation.